Master of Ceremonies

• John Leo, Editor, Minding the Campus.com

Opening Remarks: The Historical Context of Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind

• Presenter: James Piereson, Senior Fellow, CAU and Chairman, VERITAS Fund

PANEL ONE: What is the Role of the Professor and the University in Maintaining the Health of Democratic Society?

• Presenter: John Tomasi, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Political Theory Project, Brown University
• James Miller, Chair of the Liberal Studies Program and Professor of Political Science, The New School
• James W. Ceaser, Professor of Politics and Director of the Program for Constitutionalism and Democracy, University of Virginia
• Moderator: John McWhorter, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute

PANEL TWO: Are Certain Forms of “Openness” Really Tantamount to Intellectual and Moral “Closing”?

• Presenter: Roger Kimball, Co-Editor, The New Criterion and Publisher, Encounter Books
• Discussants: Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Founding Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Princeton University
• Patrick J. Deneen, Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Associate Professor of Government and Director of the Tocqueville Forum on the Roots of American Democracy, Georgetown University
• Moderator: Brian Anderson, Editor, City Journal

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: 

• Mark Steyn, Author of the Best-Selling Book America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

PANEL THREE: Can the American Mind Be Opened?

• Presenter: Heather Mac Donald, Contributing Editor, City Journal
• Discussants: Peter Berkowitz, Tad and Dianne Taube Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• David DesRosiers, VERITAS Fund
• Moderator: Gary Rosen, Managing Editor, Commentary